The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-04-27
AMONG CHINESE PIRATES.

In ls75- owing to tine wreck Of a Boston
brig n the China Sea, I was left in Hong
Kong n pretty bad shape After bad
carried a ia. IF distress. 1svo1 might say
t1r rVo weeks an EngIishmau offered "a
let ME work my passage 20 Liverpool. but
a- was about 70 acrept it, / ran across q
countryman who had berth for me-
One the largest trading houses In Cam
ton az that time was composed Of three
Americans. and they owned two small
steamers and three or four sailing crafts
These vessels were employed in collecting
goods from the various islands to the
southeast. and some Of the yovl.s=s ex-
tended up the Yellow sea as far as Teng-
chow Just at that time the firm had
come into possession OF q new steamer.
and she was about o. make her hrst vow
age Ther- hai been trouble with a
pirliicil craft and the steamer had bean
ittei out % take care 5f herself She
carried TWO ,ix-pounuars. twenty Aneri-
can 'avalry carbIne-. "a score 3f ray0lvers.
and was fixed 20 throw bot water over
boarier- Her complement Of men were
fifteen, Of whom the cook, steward and
three tremen were natives. Ar others
were Americans and Englisbmeu Tile
-uperargo was an American. who could
rattle of the Chinese language as well AS
the best Of 'eul. and the Captain and some
the others could >matter more or
less
Our dr-t voyage WAS % be- up the Vel
low sea. and We carried load Of Ameri-
-au and English goods. The cargo we'll
deserved the name Of miscellaneous. -
There were mus5ets. ti-h-spear-. sole
leather. rinware. looking sias-e-. r-ific0e~.
buttons. -joueware lamps ish nets. gro
eerie-. axes, and almost everything else
you can think of AMI tine -uTerrargo also
carried money 70 purchase whatwe could
not traffic for We we're topick upin ex-
change vhatever foreign markets called
for in Canton. Rhirh i1IgIe,l teas. rice
several species II mats. Is.~tltt-. r,ors.
5arks. skins. t-c-
was i1 luck ta secure the place af
mate. fHr Captain Tabor vaSa splendid
fellow snd -be crew was one which couid
h, depended upeu. We hat threeor E1ur
men who understood the handling OF six
Founders. which had been sent over from
The United States. and with tine supply Of
small arms at hand. we felt ourselves q
match for anything except a regular gun
boat. We got aVav In good shape Fau lp
between tine coast and the isihmg- of For
mo-z.. and ,heU -eseled 30 the northeast
ta fetch the Lru-Kioo I~iand-, which are
seven 0r eight iu number AMI Zeal In
ginseng ~arsaparilla. and other medical
roots We stopped q day at Ke-LHug,
which i- al the northern end Of Formosa.
and almost opposite Foochow, an the
mainland. dad NH,le here il WIS uoticed
thar the native members OF ourcrew were
very thiek with loJ Of suspicious char
acters ~ h0 were hanging about us the
greater part OF the day The slperargo
overheard them discussing our voyage
and making MANY inquiries and when
ht spoke of the mslEter "a the steward
that pig-tailed gentleman explained that
all cur natives were related % the ,trang-
ers who had been hanging about. and Of
course the latter took an interest IN them.
didn't know Chine-echarIctera well
as some Of the others. and was therefore
somewha surprised o. hear the captain
and superarzo discussing the iFnpudence
1fthe natives aboard before we had ieit
Ke-Lung by tfv miles. The iremau ha,l
given the engineer trouble, and the stew
arI bad q certsin SORT 1f impgdeEce in
his ob,-iieuee % commands dad not
know until now that a eiE- IF twenty OF
more of the fellows al Keeling bad a.
tempteI T. iuliWe the captain t. give
them passage a. the island 1T Tseeusan,
which Ne meant 81 visit They had Oh
fan-d big p.lssHge money and We're viii
ling to put ap with any accommodations,
bat be niistrlIsted them. and firmly de-
elinel % have one Of them aboard The
steward and iiremen were souRdly be-
rated by the captain and threatened with
irons If any more trouble occurred, and
there tIe matter WIS dropped At the
close of the second day we dropped an
ehor OF a small IL nd - the southwest Of
Tseeusan, called Hung Wah. There was
DO harbor, ON the depta Of the water en-
abied u 70 ret within cables length Of
the beach IN 4 comparatively sheltered
spot